I've written a lot in the last few weeks about my weight loss and fitness goals. Now, after a month of working on that tired resolution, I'm happy to report I'm feeling a little fitter.

My scale may not agree, but my pants are beginning to.

In a month of counting calories—an exercise I still do with a great deal of grumbling—and exercising nearly every day (done with less grumbling each day, I've lost a grand total of no pounds).

Now before you roll your eyes, it should be noted that I'm nearly forty and while my current regimen would have shrunken me by at least fifteen pounds in my twenties, now, post children and in my fourth decade, anything that is not a gain deserves a ticker tape parade.

Or, at least, a sigh of relief.

It's helped a great deal that I'm embarking on this journey—oh, how I loathe that term when used for weight loss—with my boyfriend and another good friend. Together, we cheer each other on through each and every exercise session. My girlfriend texts me with uncanny precision just when the temptation to grab a handful of Baked Lays starts to overtake me. My boyfriend eats salmon and roasted vegetables without a whimper or a sigh of sadness over the missing cream soups and lasagnas.

While I'm still having a hard time finding, well, time, I've come up with a routine that seems to be working for now.

Each day, on my lunch break, I walk. I usually log about three miles at a pace steady enough to burn calories but gentle enough to prevent office stink. Then, five days a week, I jump on the treadmill as soon as I get home to put in an additional thirty minutes.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes it doesn't.

But by the grace of Phineas and Ferb as well as a fully stocked fruit drawer, my children don't starve and aren't crying for dinner until after I've gotten off the treadmill. It makes a hectic evening even more hectic, but as I wrote before, all those pre's were starting to worry me.

I have a new routine. I have the support of friends. I have some small progress. The three seem to be coming together in a tentatively continuing New Year's Resolution.

How are you doing with yours? Have you discovered any tips or tricks to help make fitness easier? Do you have a friend you can text when the going gets tough?

Mandy Dawson is the creator of In Mandyland, an almost daily blog recording her adventures in juggling a full-time job, two active children, four arguing hens, a fluffy bunny, and one ex-husband. A self-diagnosed gardening and crafting addict, she often finds herself gluing together clay pots and trying to discover the cure for brown thumb. When she’s not writing, she can be found burning dinners while she stares off into space with a story idea. She was a regular contributor for Makes Fun of Stuff, Aiming Low, and Six Kitchens, and has been featured on BlogHer and Mamapedia. She is an Assistant Editor for Write on Edge and has had her fiction featured in three anthologies currently available on Amazon.